In honor of Groundhog’s Day and the groundhogs’ number one fan, Donna, aka the Chicken Lady, my Tuesday blog is on Monday this week. To clarify, Donna was the Poultry Superintendent of the Wisconsin State Fair for many years. This fact does not cause the groundhogs of the world to doubt her devotion to them.

Friends immeasurably enrich our lives, and we count Donna among our friends, as do many. Donna is also an experience. Who else would send us 38 consecutive years of Groundhog’s Day cards?

In 1990, Donna gave a gigantic Groundhog’s Day party at a downtown Milwaukee restaurant……a true highlight of that winter’s social season.

After 25 years, memory is selective, but I vividly recall Donna greeting all of us with her million dollar smile and her feet clad in enormous groundhog slippers. What my husband and I did not recall was that she asked all of her guests to write a piece for a time capsule. She declared, “Tonight these words of wisdom will be sealed in a box to be guarded by the Grand and Regal Patron of the Royal Order of Groundhogs (in other words, our lovable and sometimes a little wacky Donna). If she does not lose this national treasure in her studio, we will have a formal reading on February 2, 2000. It will then be time to marvel at our insights and great visionary abilities….”

2000 came and went without a reading. But in our mail last week our words and picture came back from twenty five years ago. Here are our words of wisdom. Thanks, Donna, for ALWAYS SAVING EVERYTHING.

We predict that in the next decade we will see Groundhog’s Day proclaimed a national holiday….of course, it will be celebrated on a Monday. Chickens and groundhogs will take their rightful places in society. The groundhogs will use computers to make better weather forecasts and the chickens will scratch their way to the top.

Greetings and welcome...

The Suitcase Lady Blog is now in its thirteenth year. I am obviously a believer in these words from E. B. White. "We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry." Thank you for reading the writing that I delight in doing.